


A Thousand Times and Still More

by NaomiJameston



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, TW: babies everywhere, The fluffiest fluff, cavity-inducing fluff, musing about memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:02:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27834970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaomiJameston/pseuds/NaomiJameston
Summary: Hermione's daughter asks a question and brings up a lifetime of memories. (HEA)
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Comments: 13
Kudos: 107
Collections: Hearts and Cauldrons Discord Members





	A Thousand Times and Still More

**Author's Note:**

> I was in a sappy mood this evening and wrote this in one go. It's horrifically self-indulgent. Like, wow.
> 
> As always, a million thanks to said beta, LunaP999. Couldn't have done it without you! And if I write opera-singing Snape tomorrow, it'll be all your fault.
> 
> And so much love to my friends at Hearts&Cauldrons. Y'all are the best. Seriously. I love you all.
> 
> (Any mistakes are mine and mine alone. JKR owns HP and all affiliated properties. I am making no profit off this work. I'm just playing in the sandbox)

“Mum, when did you fall in love with Dad?” her youngest asked. The tiny little girl’s beautiful brown eyes were framed by curly black hair as she leaned back against her mother. They’d been washing the dishes together… Well, Isolde had mostly been babbling rather than helping, but that wasn’t out of the norm for the girl. And with all of the health concerns she’d had over her five years of life, her mother wasn’t about to stop her.

But to answer her question… Hermione paused in her scrubbing.

When  _ had _ she fallen in love with Severus?

Was it when they first kissed? She smiled. It had been so unexpected for both of them. They’d been talking, laughing, sharing memories and walking together… then her hands had been buried in his hair and his were on her back. He’d pulled her in as though he could forget the world so long as his lips were on hers. They hadn’t broken for breath until someone on the beach below them had catcalled.

Was it the first time they’d made love? Her cheeks blushed in remembrance but the restless shifting of her daughter made her pull away from the thought quickly. She’d enjoy the memory later.

Was it perhaps the first time she’d seen him as a potential father for her oldest children? When she’d been trying to balance dinner and Rose’s schoolwork and Hugo’s endless questions and Crookshanks was trying to calm her by winding around her feet and someone was at the door and- She’d felt the tears gathering in her eyes and she’d bitten her lip to keep from screaming. Then Severus was there. He’d plucked Hugo from where he’d wrapped his arms around her leg, grabbed Rose’s math workbook from the floor where she’d thrown it, and had scooted her out the kitchen to sit at the dining table. He’d tsk’d at Crooks, who had come running with a purr. Severus often had treats in his pockets and was never stingy with her elderly half-Kneazle. Hermione had been alone in the kitchen in less than five seconds. And she hadn’t asked him for help.

That was a running theme in their relationship. She rarely had to ask him for anything- he knew what she needed almost before she did. When she was overwhelmed with work, he was there to act as sounding board. When the children were fighting, he would look to her before interfering. And when she was feeling ugly and unloveable and unclean, he would kiss her tears away.

So did she fall in love with him when he showed that he would always put her first? Was it the first time he took Hugo’s plate from her hands and told her to make her plate and he would feed the baby? Was it when he’d encouraged the children to pick up their plates and clean up after their meals, as though that had always been the expectation? 

Was it when she realized that she didn’t have to hide her emotions? That she could be sad and mad and happy and everything all at once, and he wouldn’t judge her for it?

Did she fall when he found her crying into her son’s outgrown onesie and he didn’t say a word? He hadn’t yelled at her, hadn’t said she was being daft and overemotional, that she was stronger than this. No, Severus had instead held her close, rocking her as she sobbed, and pressed soft kisses on her temple until she calmed. 

Memories flooded over her. Things he did and said. The way he showed his love every day.

The fact that he remembered her favourite flower was a snowdrop. That he never bought her anything orange. That he’d taught Hugo to sing Happy Birthday in Russian, just because he could. His smile as Rose taught him to braid and declared him her worst pupil. 

The joy and pride on his face when Hermione had confessed she’d visited his mother’s grave to ask her permission to marry him. And the glorious sound of his booming laugh when she’d dropped to one knee then and there. The tear he wiped away surreptitiously at seeing her on their wedding day. Him dancing with Rose and Hugo. 

The tremble in his hands when Hermione had passed him newborn Isolde.

Him whispering in her hair that she was the most amazing person he’d ever known.

Or was it long before that, when she realized she’d stopped thinking of their group as her and the kids, plus Severus, and instead as a family?

“Mum?” Isolde asked with the aggrieved air of a child who was tired of repeating a question. Hermione shook herself and sniffed back sudden tears.

“When did I fall in love with your father?” she asked. Isolde nodded in confirmation, and Hermione pecked her on the nose. “I’ve fallen in love with him a thousand times, and I fall a little more every day.”


End file.
